Too Little Too Late: How We Fail Vulnerable Canadians as They Die and What to Do About It [2018]

In many ways, the contexts of care and caregiving in this community have remained unchanged over the past 20 years.. Homeless and barely housed people continue to die at an alarming rate, at half the age of the average Canadian. People using illicit drugs and living with mental illness continue to experience stigma and discrimination preventing access to and quality of care. Legacies of colonization have lasting impacts in the bodies of Indigenous people and the institutions where they access services. Indigenous and non-Indigenous, homeless and barely housed people continue to experience suffering and unmet needs at end-of-life.

In this report, we condense and summarize what we have learned from our research. In the report, you will read stories from people who opened up and shared their lives with us. You will find results and recommendations on how to improve access to and quality of care at end-of-life for homeless and barely housed people. And mostly what I hope is that we use this research to shift policy and practice around end-of-life care for people in our community who are fully deserving of dignified deaths and lives.

Read the report hereEquitable Access to Care Team, Institute of Aging and Lifelong Health, University of Victoria